UFC Needs To Offer Safety And Health Protocols Outside Of Fight Week
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Today, I look at a way the UFC can — and should — help its fighters.
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As lockdown restrictions are being relaxed, I’m left to wonder what the UFC is doing to help its fighters understand what safety protocols they should use for themselves, their coaches, their gyms and their families.
In other sports the teams have a vested interest in making sure their athletes are safe because those athletes are also employees. That’s not to say that the UFC doesn’t have an interest in healthy athletes, but with the fighters being independent contractors, the UFC fighters do not have the same rights as employees. With that, the UFC might feel it can escape the responsibility to offer safety and health advice to its fighters. While that might be true, it doesn’t mean the UFC should avoid offering safety and health advice.
To be blunt. I’m worried that the UFC does not have COVID-19 plans for the fighters outside of fight week and I think that’s dangerous.
I think UFC fighters, coaches and gyms should be supplied with good (truthful) information on how to train safely, how to clean their gym safely, how to travel safely, how to keep themselves, their training partners and their families safe.
One reason this information is important is that fighters often travel to multiple gyms to get their training done, with that fighters and gyms should have consistent protocols to follow so that one gym is not doing something totally different from another. A safe and consistent protocol would reduce worry for fighters.
If just one gym has a less than ideal safety protocol, that increases the chance of illness. With no COVID-19 vaccine, there is still a genuine worry that there will be another outbreak as restrictions are relaxed, if gyms and fighters aren’t doing their best to stay safe and healthy, there’s a risk that fighters will fall ill.
One way the UFC can live up to Dana White’s claims that the UFC is going above and beyond regarding health and safety would be to address safety outside of fight week.
Do you know something about UFC, USADA, an MMA manager or a fighter, that I should know? You can email me at trent.reinsmith@gmail.com or contact me via secure messaging on Telegram at trentreinsmith.